Forever Starts Today
by wsm021
Summary: It would be 10 years before she saw him again. A decade to think of exactly how she would welcome him home. *Can be seen as a sequel or alternate ending to 'Don't You Remember' And if yur crafty you can probably read it alone, or be nice & read both


****This is a one shot, so as much as I love the alerts there's no need.****

**AN: So as I was writing this it turned into something I wasn't expecting at all. Something I think is actually an appropriate ending to 'Don't You Remember?' But I LOVE the last chapter. So consider this an alternative ending, or a sequel or whatever you like really. THANK YOU a thousand times over to all the people who alerted, favourited and reviewed. I had no idea whether or not I could pull off delena (haha even says so on my profile). You guys are amazing and I'm glad you stuck with me. Here you go =)**

**if i owned anything, you would know.  
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><p><strong>The first day<strong> she doesn't leave her room. Doesn't even attempt to and a part of her feels horrible for it. Her brother was home again, finally safe and she was refusing to leave the comforts of her bed. But leaving the bed meant leaving the last place _he _held her. And the sheets smelt like him, still held his warmth. She couldn't leave. No one disturbs her that day, no one asks her to be okay. And even if they had, she couldn't give them that. Not today. Not when the only thing that had anchored her was gone. That day on the bridge with Matt she thought she'd said goodbye. That she had let her past go and moved on. But she hadn't, losing Damon had shown her that. She said the words but they were empty. She had still held on to Stefan, still kept Damon at an arm's length. She was still set on playing the martyr and still blind to where she truly stood in the world. She'd said goodbye to the wrong person. There wasn't anything wrong with who she had been before the accident. It was after that she lost her way. It was after that she compromised who she was.

She was going to break up with Matt before the crash. He was safe and cookie cutter and not at all what she wanted. And then Stefan had come along, mysterious and dark. It was exactly she'd wanted before the crash. His inability to die, his devotion and love had been what she wanted afterwards. But she had never truly known who Stefan was, not that she had ever cared. She loved the image without loving the man. But how could she have, she knew nothing about the man. When he'd asked if she knew what love was, she had quite honestly said no. But what she should have said was not yet. Because Damon had always appealed to her. Every aspect of her. Fun Elena, dead Elena, the martyr and the wild child. He accepted it all, wanted it all, consumed every part of her. Everything she had ever wanted stood right in front of her and she ran. Some days because she wanted to, others because she didn't have a choice. How could she give in to that?

He was asking her to turn her back on everything she had known. Forget about boundaries and space, about keeping things for herself and holding back. He was asking her to accept even the bad, to stop denying the dark, broken emptiness inside of her. All the things she'd ever been told, he wanted her to do the opposite. So she'd rebelled. And denied and hurt. But in the end it hadn't mattered. Love, honest to god love, could never be denied. He was in everything. He was in her smile and her laugh, her tears and her doubt. He was a part of her. So she accepted. Accepted every dark dirty broken piece of herself because it was worth it. If not being perfect was the price of his love, she would pay it. Because he was dark and dirty and broken and her heart sang for him.

Bonnie goes to the tomb. That is where it had started for her. She ran her hand along the stone walls and mourned the loss of everything that had been ripped away from her, starting with Grams. She hadn't wanted this. Never wanted the power, even when it was barely enough to float a few feathers. She just wanted to be the Elena and Caroline's best friend. Their moral compass and their north star. She was responsible for two people. Made sure they did their homework, and didn't drink too much. Made sure they never cried alone, never felt abandoned. And they made her relax, brought out the laughter and easy going nature that had disappeared with her mother. They helped her and she helped them and the world went 'round. She'd just wanted that. A world that was only as far as the distance between them. She's responsible for so much more now. So much weight to carry. The weight of life and death, of decisions she would never be a hundred percent sure about. An uncertainty she would never be able to let go of. She cried for the things she would do, she cried for the days she'd dreamed of and would never see. She cried for the self-righteous girl she had been. Cried for the people she had lost. Cried for the people she would take from others. Cried for the decisions she hadn't thought twice about. She cried for everything that was with everything she had. And then she stilled in acceptance before moving on, leaving this place and that life behind.

At first Caroline doesn't cry. She destroys. Ripping through her home, smashing, breaking, tearing at everything. Everything was backwards. Her mother was here, by her side, supporting her always. And her father was gone. Her best friends were a wreck and she couldn't help them. Her boyfriend wasn't on the football team, wasn't perfect. She would never become the next Carol Lockwood running the town with an iron fist. Every single thing she had ever wanted for herself was in ruins. Everything she had ever believed about herself was dead and all the rage she hadn't had time for rose to the surface and punished anything she could get her hands on. And when it was all in tatters, when there isn't a single thing left of the person she can't even remember how to be, she cries then. For the cheerleader with that life and those dreams. Cries for the scared newborn that almost killed her boyfriend. Cries for the young girl who'd fallen for a boy who could have been her death. She cries and cries and cries until she doesn't have anything left to give. She cries until all that's left is now, this woman in her broken house who would live forever. She cries until she doesn't need to anymore, until everything is right again.

Remembering the directions Damon had given him, Jeremy finds what he's looking for. Falling to the ground in exhaustion he knows this is it. Underneath the ash, a red stain that shouldn't still be there. Two feet ahead and a little to the right from the last step. Exactly where her body had been. Exactly where her eyes had met a friendly face for the last time. Eyes that had been scared, but not alone. He should have taken her and ran. He should have let Damon kill John. He should have turned sooner. Should have protected her. He had made so many mistakes with Anna, all of his biggest regrets end with her name. And Bonnie's. Bonnie might have been in his heart, but Anna _was_ his heart. She was his anchor, the finish line of who he wanted to be. Without Anna he hadn't know which end was up. Without Anna it hadn't matter. He'd just wanted to feel again. He wanted to take care of someone and be taken care of. And there Bonnie stood, hurting and alone, needing someone by her side. So he'd jumped at the chance, maybe a little hesitantly but inside he sought her out. Every day he thought about Anna a little less. Put the pieces of her in a box, and dropped them into the ocean. His every thought became about Bonnie. Making her laugh, making sure she ate, stopping her before she used too much magic. He never failed her the way he'd failed Anna. Just always denying her the thing he'd given to Anna without question.

Until one day, there she was. Looking into his eyes, scared but not alone. Beautiful and young and close enough to touch. Every day he'd hurt Bonnie by never letting go of Anna. No matter how much it ruined him it was something he could never do. He would never turn his back on Anna again, never send her away. He would spend his eternity belonging to one woman and when time stopped he would spend his afterlife finally by her side. Tears mix with the stain of her blood cementing his conviction. He didn't need the graze of her hand, or the brush of her kiss. Didn't need the friction of her hips against his or the pleasure of her fangs buried in his veins. Just her name and the memory of her love. That was his guideline, that was his anchor; who he was. Hers.

No one disturbed her that first day. They let her wallow. Because they were wallowing too. They were safe. Finally, truly safe. They had time to stop, to think. And the more they thought the more they all just needed to be alone. Tears that had never had the time to be shed were shed that day.

**The first year** they do nothing. Not literally but close enough. It's the break that they all deserved and exploited to the best of their abilities. The girls took trips. Two week here, three days there. Jeremy was finishing high school and they had the time to kill. Leaving him at home to enjoy a normalcy that wasn't really their own. As the months flew by it finally hits them, that this will be their life. Long car rides, trains, planes; first class to anywhere. Airport security and border patrol. Some trips just because they can and some because that's where they needed to be. Taking care of threats one day and tanning on the beach the next. Round and round until the end of time. Their new normal.

**The third year** it's time. At midnight they all sit on her bed while she blows out the lone candle on her red velvet cupcake. There are presents at the foot of her bed and a necklace from Damon around her neck. It's the only contact she gets, one gift on her birthday. But this one is more than that. Bonnie says it's spelled up the ass. Lets him know where she is, allows her to walk in the light and always keeps her aura shielded. Even a million miles away the man never stops worrying. She loves it. He had it crafted by hand into the infinity symbol. Touching the lapis pendent she smiles. Caroline snaps her neck then, while she's distracted, smiling and thinking of him. She thought it was appropriate.

**The fifth year **Ric comes back dead. Well undead. She can smell Damon rolling off of him in waves and it makes her heart pound. They hooked up somewhere outside of New Zealand and they tore the place apart for a few months before he decided to come home. She knows he leaves parts out, knows that somewhere there is a hotel room painted with spilt blood. It doesn't bother her, though the animal inside of her is envious. That should be her tearing through the streets with her mate. The thought alone causes her to purr. Caroline laughs, can feel the emotions coming off of her and is as always amused. Elena as a vampire was like having twenty fun Elena's. They partied, and they hunted and they lived as though they would never die. Bonnie joined some nights, obvious not the hunting part but she watched. Once she lost the judgement, the witch had become a predator all her own; wielding magic like a sword. Damon had been right. Power didn't change who you were, it just let you be yourself.

**The next year **Klaus leaves. And a year later he comes back. He'd had left, and his business was his business but when he started killing innocents that was her business. Bonnie'd found him outside of Greece and the only thing that had stopped her from killing him had been the look on his face. The hope that burned in his eyes had shaken her. She knew that Caroline stopped answering his calls, knew that she had told him to either stop disappearing or just stay gone. He wanted Bonnie to be here to bring him home, to provide Caroline's absolution. She locks him in the den with his love and refuses to let them out until they work through their shit. The minutes become hours and the hours become days. Elena knows on some level that Caroline has every right to be upset. It hurts to know that the person you love is somewhere else with someone else doing things he will never tell you about. But she also knows it hurts more not to be with the person you love at all. Maybe it was because she didn't see it that she could put up with it. Even still, she knew Damon was off somewhere being Damon. Blood, sex and bourbon. She accepted it, even loved him for it. That's who Damon was and no amount of love was going to change that. So she took it, the same way there were things about her that he took in spite of how much he resented them. That was love. He could fuck whoever he wanted because he was coming back to her, because he would always come back to her. Caroline makes a point to claim him the night they're finally released. If she was going to put up with his disappearances she needed more than his word that he would always come home.

**By year eight** it's become exhausting for Bonnie to keep up the glamour spells. Well not exhausting, more annoying really. She had to spell them all once a month and sometimes they forgot and people had to be compelled and it was just a mess. The whole thing was more of a hassle than it was worth. They've all gone to college and done the normal thing to appease the parental figures. It was time to move on. Elena puts up a bit of a fight at first, she didn't want anything getting in the way of Damon's return. Caroline shuts her down instantly. Between her sire bond and Elena's necklace, Damon would have to be dead not to find them. They find a new family to look after the Boarding House and say their goodbyes. Liz resigns herself to the fact that she may never see her daughter again and closes the door behind them. They walk to the airport. It sounds ridiculous but feels right. It was time to really begin their new life. There is a growing concentration of energy in the Congo so that's where they go. With nothing but the clothes on their backs and the people they love, they leave Mystic Falls behind.

**The last year **isn't very special. Elena doesn't know what she expected it to be like but it falls short somehow. They were currently settled in Italy ironically. There was a witch here that had lost her family and needed guidance. Jeremy joked about how much things were 'twilighting'. In the last few months between all the supernaturals they had run in to the statement wasn't too far off. Word was spreading about them. The Wiccan community knew that there was someone more powerful who was willing to either mentor them or cut them down to size. The vampires and werewolves, well they didn't like the idea of answering to anyone, or being accountable for their actions. Which was fine by them. Bonnie understood that werewolves would hunt vampires and vampires would hunt humans, that was balance. You just couldn't massacre innocents; whether alive or undead. You couldn't torture and you couldn't enslave. Bonnie's rule of thumb was simple, don't play with your food and don't over eat. What no one ever expected was how young she was, how young they all were. They got over that quick though. They could feel how 'old' Bonnie was and they could witness how efficiently they killed. Caroline found it funny that even when Klaus and Rebekah were with them everyone was more scared of an 18 (27?) year old girl than they were of the oldest vampires alive.

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><p><strong>6:42 pm.<strong> The sun was just setting and the room is aglow with evening light. And there he is. She knew he would be exact. A decade, down to the very minute the door had closed behind him. God is he beautiful. Blue eyes like she could never adequately describe trace every curve of her body. They were like the waters surrounding Jamaica. Such depth that they looked surreal, unnatural. Too blue in some places, too green in others. And flicks of light grey that held no consistency, moving in swirls that captivated and demanded her attention. She couldn't look away so she let him indulge. He could stare all he liked. She was too preoccupied to ask for more. Reacting to him the only way she knew how. She'd always wondered if her body would know or if the reactions would be lost in transition. This body had never come to know another man. Never made to blush, never tingled or screamed, never aching for another. Not until now. Looking at him, her skin burned with a desire she'd almost forgotten. Elena could almost feel each cell move independently, closer and closer almost tearing itself off of bone just to touch him. Nothing more, it was already too much. She just wanted to touch him. They could stop there and she would be content.

He could see her hands twitch. She wanted him closer, wanted to make sure he was real. He knew the feeling. Over and over he ran his eyes traced her body and it still wasn't enough. He'd partially expected her to look like Katherine. Lethal and gorgeous, seductive and elegant. She put Katherine to shame in the worst way. There had never been anyone like Elena, his dark princess. Her eyes completely glazed in yearning, her body tight and ready. If he'd been someone else, he would be dead right now. Knelling in the center of the bed, legs slightly apart. She was in the perfect position to attack, while still looking innocent and unaware. Somehow it made him want her more. Her skin still, forever, tan from the summer of her twenty-first year. Glowing with reckless desire. She wanted to consume him, to devour everything within her sight beginning and ending with his flesh. And he would let her. She could have all of him. It was hers. Skin on skin, even if it killed him he would give it to her. A begging gaze drawing him to edge of the bed. The brown of her eyes were darker than he remembered, richer. Auburn and mahogany swimming together in tandem and seduction. Veins almost dancing, baiting him. Tease and taunting, convincing him to move closer. He was incapable of disobedience. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. A Goddess and she owned him. Always had.

_Thank fuck!_ She can hear her skin sighing. Rejoicing. The burning was soothed. Not extinguished but calm. Everything she'd read was a lie. She wasn't overcome with the need to rip his clothes off. Oh she wanted to, and she would. She would have more, because she could. She could finally have it all. And she wouldn't waste that. But this truly was enough, just to feel his skin against hers. To close her eyes as his hand ran up her thigh and the bed dipped with his added weight. It was heaven and he was her god. All the ways she would worship him…

How had he gone so long without this? Too long. He'd never be able to do it again. Ten years without her hand snaking through his hair. Without her shallow breathing and the smell of her arousal in the air. Ten years was a farce. It was torture of the cruellest kind. He would never do that to them again. He apologizes with his lips and his hands and his own shallow breaths and the smell of his arousal.

_Take it_. He was giving her more and she had no idea what to do with it. Everything. She could feel everything and it took every ounce of strength she had not to cry. How did Caroline do this? The memories of how this should feel paled in the worst way. Even his kiss felt amplified. His lips had found the spot where her shoulder met collar bone and it was game over. He wasn't even inside of her yet and she was seeing stars. If his grin means anything, and she knows it does, by the end of the night that spot would bare his mark.

The first. He was the first. He can tell by the way she shook, the way she grabbed him just to push him away. She has no idea what to do with herself. Every first as a vampire was intensified. The mind trying to adapt to all the new things your body was capable of. She touched him now and could feel every indent in his skin. She stroked his scars with reverence, fascinated by the texture, liking the contours as much as he liked the contact. She would be the end of him, hips rocking against his hardness begging him to give in.

_Please, please. I need you._ She had never said that before, not to anyone. Sex had never mattered to her enough to ask for it. But with Damon, if he wasn't inside of her soon she was going to die. Not a joke. Her skin was going to peel itself off and her heart would beat out of her chest and her toes would curl until they snapped, her fingers digging into her palm until they broke through the skin. Damn, she was going die. He needed to be inside of her. _NOW_

Stop, they had to stop. He can't do this. She was too tight. But Elena wasn't letting go. Ankles locked behind him like a vice, nails clawing at his arms. Blood running down to the black Egyptian cotton sheets he knows she bought for him. The sheets, her love, the necklace hanging between her breasts, all for him and it was all too much. Yet still he couldn't pull out. The animal protesting, every inch he removed caused talons to strike against his ribs until he was back inside her. Never had he felt this. She was made for him, his beast calling to her the same way it called for blood. Growling like he was fighting to get out of a cage. Fighting to get deeper, to take from her body what was his. _Mine!_

,_ always, always yours. _She doesn't even remember him biting her. Did she black out? He's lapping at the blood running from her shoulder like a starved lion and she's never been so turned on. She flips them with more force than is necessary but less force than she had wanted. She was so drained, like she could sleep for year but so charged that she couldn't stop for anything in the world. Would it always feel like this? She had eternity to find out. Elena flips her hair to one side as he traces_ his_ mark with the tip of his finger and she purrs like a contented kitten.

She's beautiful. In a way that no one had any right to be. Everything about her draws him in and he sounds like that sparkling twit from that heinous book but she sings to him. Everything about her inviting him in and if he didn't love her so much, he knows he could drain her dry and never regret it. Sitting up he rocks his hips against her while she takes him as deeply as she can. Her muscle's squeezing him in a way he's not even sure she's aware of and just when he thinks it's over and he's given all his body has to offer she demands more.

On the ground, back against the floor. They're almost there. She can feel her body about to give out. It would only be fair; her mind had quit hours ago. He was sensory overload, and she loved it. Pulling him to sit up again she doesn't even allow for a moment to catch their breaths. He doesn't need the oxygen, he'll get over it. She licks all the scars she can reach, paying special attention to her own. Those that were still bleeding and temporary. Slowly making her way to his jugular before tearing into it without mercy. And the way he falls apart in her arms keening, brings a cheshire grin to her lips. Elena always knew her man liked it when she hurt him. She takes a moment to lap at the flow of blood before looking directly into his too blue eyes. _This is so you never forget who you are. You do know who you are, don't you Damon? _Pausing more for dramatic effect than anything else. Swiping her tongue again and again at the blood as it runs down his chest._ You're mine, Damon. All mine._ She can't help but tease him. Even in this intimate moment she gives in to the dark dirty parts of her he adored so much. _So when someone asks you who you belong to? _

He loves this woman. The angel and the sadist. The curse and the cure. All in one body, everything he had ever wanted and would never deserve. She was exactly wrong for him, would break him and push him to the limit. And he couldn't wait. Couldn't wait to break what was left of her and feed her his scraps, just to make her whole again. Together they would be one complete puzzle, one love, one soul. _Yours. _He was hers and she was his. _Always._

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><p>She opens her eyes to find the Sun just beginning to overtake the night. A sea of colours rich and inviting over Italia. Without moving her head from the chest of her mate she can tell they'll need to buy new furniture. Maybe repaint, or not… she kind of likes seeing the dashes of blood all around her. Knows he'll love it. Elena takes her time before sitting up, stoking her claim as she does. Enjoying his involuntary reaction to her touch, especially there. Basking in the feeling of finally being his, in every way, she decides to let him sleep a while longer and heads into the bathroom. He deserves the extra time after what she put him through last night. An act she plans on repeating the instant he's awake. While she enjoys the feeling of dried blood on her skin she kind of wants him to wake up to something a little cleaner. Though she might be wasting her time.<p>

He wakes to the sound of running water and manages to put his pants on before the bedroom door all but flies off its hinges. Then it's the sound of Caroline and her particular brand of cheer welcoming him home. By the time Elena finishes with her shower their room is no longer their own. Bonnie and Alaric are bringing in trays of food while Klaus sketches absently and the barbies fill him in on everything he'd missed, **every**thing. He looks to Jeremy for some support and the little shit flat out tells him that its punishment for defiling his sister loud enough for them all to overhear. Their eyes lock and through the mild disappointment at no longer having him to herself, he knows she's happy. They sit together on the floor, leaning against broken furniture surrounded by ripped fabric. Elena tucked carefully into Damon's side watching as the Sun gradually takes its place high in the sky signalling the start of a brand new day.

**And this is a one shot, so as much as I love the alerts there's no need.**


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